1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telecommunications systems and specifically to a system that controls access to a destination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Providing customer service is an integral part of many businesses. At present, many businesses use "800" numbers to provide this customer service, such as allowing their customers to call with questions, comments, orders, and the like. Customers of a business typically use the same "800" number regardless of differences in the characteristics of the customer, such as the purchase amount or sophistication. In addition, "800" numbers are also obtained and used by individuals who are not customers of the business.
This access and use of customer service systems leaves the business with significant problems. The business must pay for customer service for all customers, and even for non-customers who obtain the "800" number. These costs include the increased telecommunications cost and the business internal customer service cost as a result of servicing additional customers. Additionally, customers who obtain the same "800" number may be processed uniformly despite the differences specific to each customer. In order to avoid consumer confusion, most businesses choose not to offer more than one "800" number. This hinders the business ability to tailor "800" service to each specific customer or group of customers.
Some typical problems facing businesses who offer an "800" number or other unrestricted access to customer service include the following. Customers may abuse available customer service which drives up the cost of the product for the other customers. This abuse of service may force other customers to wait in a phone queue before gaining access to customer service. Additionally, some customers may desire not to pay for sophisticated customer service that they do not need.
As for the business, it may desire to limit the amount of free customer service it will provide. The business may also want to limit the resources it expends on customer service. Limiting access to customer can enable the business to maintain a level of quality of the service provided to its customers. At present "800" customer service systems use a "one size fits all" approach that is insensitive to the resources of the business and the specific needs of the customer.
Another telecommunications feature is the pre-pay card. The pre-pay card is typically a pre-paid account against which telephone use is billed. Pre-pay cards, however, do not allow a business to control customer service. Pre-pay cards do not control the destination of the call. A business issuing pre-pay cards has no way of directing calls using the pre-pay card to its customer service line. It is well known that the use of pre-pay cards has been accompanied by fraud and abuse. The fraud and abuse is due in part to the lack of control the party who pays for the telecommunications usage has over the destinations of the actual calls.
Automatic Number Identification (ANI) has been used in prior systems to block calls. However, these systems only allow or reject calls from a specific origination telephone number. They are not tied to specific individual callers. Additionally, they only prevent connections based on a telephone number. They do not track and update accounts. They do not allow for call processing that is flexible and specific to each customer and business relationship.
Two problems can be seen with current systems. First, "800" systems direct customer service calls to a specific business which pays for the call, but customer service is typically applied uniformly to all callers of a particular number. Secondly, pre-pay cards are specific to each customer, but they do not direct calls to the customer service line of a particular business.
For the above reasons, there is a need for a telecommunications system that allows the business to control customer service. This system would allow the business to design customer service around the specific needs of both the customer and the business.